Irvington High School's Lady Vikings JV soccer team came up against the Washington Huskies on Tuesday, Jan. 18, needing only a tie to go undefeated for the first half of the season. However, several injuries to key players meant a shuffled lineup which included Emily Holmes and Alyssa Mathias starting as fullbacks in a revamped back four.

The Vikings kicked off on the warm January afternoon and immediately went on offense. Despite many new players, the Vikings' passing was crisp, and good attacking soccer pushed the Huskies back on defense. Irvington went close to scoring on a couple of occasions and forced several corner kicks.

In the end another new addition to the team, Amie Fang, scored the breakthrough goal - and what a goal it was. Left midfielder Molly Cory found Fang just outside the six-yard box with a low lobbed pass; Fang let the ball bounce once and then hit an unstoppable half volley into the back of the net.

Irvington's supporters didn't have to wait too long for more good news when, on another Vikings attack, the Huskies failed to clear the ball properly; Erica Ohye latched on to the loose ball and deftly passed it back to Rachel Heng who placed the ball into the top left corner of the goal from about 20 yards out to make the score 2-0. Although the Huskies battled defiantly they rarely threatened Irvington goalie Andrea Hanna and the first half finished 2-0.

In the second half, Washington started much stronger and made better use of their fast wingers. The game was much more evenly matched with both sides going close, but good goalkeeping at either end resulted in the final score remaining 2-0. As a result, Irvington finished the first half of the MVAL season in first place with a 5-0-1 record (including 5 shutouts), marking one of the best showings for the Lady Vikings JV team in many years.